Optical microscopes are important tools in a variety of analytical sciences, including, for example, neuroscience and related fields of study. Advanced neurobiology, for instance, uses optical microscopes to understand alterations in neural function due to changes in neuron structure and vice versa. This knowledge plays a crucial role in the development of novel therapeutic strategies that prevent or combat neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases such as, for example, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and stroke. To make advances in these areas, researchers rely on several techniques to understand the relationship between the neuron structure and its corresponding neural function. Electrophysiological (EP) recording, for instance, uses microelectrodes to stimulate the electrical activity of a nerve cell. The resultant recordings are often correlated to results of a neuronal reconstruction (NR) techniques, including an NR technique that automatedly generates a 3D structural model of a nerve cell (3D-ANR).
Typically, experiments directed to neuron structure combined with EP recording start with detecting the cell body of a neuron using infrared differential interference contrast (IR-DIC) video microscopy. Then, neurons may be identified with a dye (e.g., biocytin or Lucifer yellow) in 300 to 400 μm thick living brain slices during (or at the end of) EP recording by filling the cells with the dye. Afterwards the brain slices are usually fixed, cryo-protected, and sectioned on a cryostat into 50 μm to 60 μm thick sections to be analyzed separately for neuron morphology. It may be appreciated that a combined EP/3D-ANR technique would permit researchers to complete similar experiments without separate recording and analysis stages. However, although EP recording and 3D-ANR techniques typically use similar optical microscopes, each requires significantly different hardware configurations from the other that inhibit a comprehensive combined solution.